Uber Wants to Carry You in Vertical-Takeoff Planes

Perhaps someday your Uber will just fly you across town. Uber has begun to explore the idea of short-haul flights on vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft—those that can take of and land straight up and down like a helicopter—as an addition to their driving services, according to a key executive.

Speaking with Recode's Kara Swisher at the Nantucket Conference—"a small group of creative and forward-thinking entrepreneurs, investors, technologists, and executives"—Uber's Product Head Jeff Holden said that researching drone-like aircraft would allow the ride-sharing company to "someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around."

"Doing it in a three-dimensional way," Holden continued, "is an obvious thing to look at."

It's unclear whether Uber would build a new VTOL plane entirely from scratch or would look outside the company for their plane. DARPA has been researching VTOL planes, and there have been significant developments by private companies. Popular Mechanicsprofiled one such company, XTI Aircraft, last year.

The TriFan 600 uses three ducted fans powered by two gas-turbine engines. Once the craft is airborne, the two wing-mounted fans rotate to provide forward thrust. (The center fan, only used for vertical lift, is covered and not used during high-speed flight.) The two jet engines will reach a combined 2,600 horsepower, XTI claims. All that power will lift six occupants straight up into the air and then blast them forward at a top speed of 400 mph and an altitude of 30,000 feet.

At the time, XTI was still seeking funding. Given Uber's curiosity in the tech, perhaps they should keep their phones nearby.

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